James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Today is the release of the new video tutorial about painting on location in gouache, or opaque watercolor. I'll tackle six different subjects, with each episode focusing on a different approach to the medium.

The subjects include a neon sign, a snowy landscape at dusk, a convenience store, a swamp, some antique character toys, and a Formula 1 race car. Some of the studies are precise and controlled, and others are bold and painterly.

Gouache is a time-honored and versatile medium, a favorite with both professionals and beginning painters because of its portability, opacity and suitability for fine detail.

But it also presents its own unique challenges, so I share plenty of practical information about formulations, materials, and painting exercises. For example, painting in black and white is a good way to get accustomed to the medium—or to paint in tight quarters, such as a concert hall or a restaurant.

Here's a small sample from a 12-minute segment (link to the video on YouTube) where I show the most straightforward way to paint in gouache: a careful pencil drawing, with the paint applied to finished effect, area by area.

In the snowy landscape at dusk that is shown in the trailer: Did you do do a completet underpainting with contrasting bright and warm colors and then overpainted it with the blues of the snow?I do not know if that is the scene that is previewed in the trailer.

Thanks, Jared, and thanks especially for your patience, HNK!Tom, is that a virtual or digital mailbox?Gyrus, what's cool is that everyone can make films now. We don't need anyone's permission or fancy equipment. The underpainting on that snow scene was in casein: a random pattern of warm colors surrounded by cool (actually I painted out a failed page).

Luis, it's good to know about the Gumroad/Paypal problems. Gumroad just added Paypal to their system, so they're working out a few bugs. Sellfy is set up to take Paypal, so that should work fine.

David, thanks! Well, you can always stay up late to hit your illustration deadline.

Thanks, Sascha. I know it's a big file to download. Enjoy.

HNK, the live streaming event is intended for enjoying in the present time (it's totally interactive), but I'll probably select a clip of it to post on YT, and if you want to keep a copy for your own use--not sharing or posting, that's OK.

My issue with Gumroad was their insistence that I click the button to "Preapprove future payments made from your PayPal account." There was no way around that, so I went with Sellfy. Can't wait to spend some serious time watching it.

Frank, I didn't know about that. Gumroad's support people have told me that the main issues were with browsers and with filling out payment prices (because I set it up as a price plus option).Here's an explanatory gif: http://g.recordit.co/ipdRfI6S4K.gif And if someone’s browser is stalling, they said: “try a different browser”.

Yorky, the basic answer is that you can add more water to make it thinner, and you can put it on an absorbent towel to make it thicker. Otherwise, most gouache works really nicely right out of the tube.

Been looking forward to this since you announced it and did that wonderful demo at IMC earlier this month. I purchased it and watched it over lunch. Greatly informative! I'm eager to try some of the techniques you've shown. Thanks again!

Dirk, good to hear from you. I've been chasing down those artist names you turned me onto at IMC. Wow, great stuff. Glad you're enjoying the gouache vid.

Mike, glad it worked for you. I was beginning to wonder.

John, Here's the troubleshooting sequence I've figured out with the folks at Gumroad and Sellfy to help customers who are having problems with the downloads:1. If your payment has processed, you should have been emailed a link. If you can't find it, check your spam or trash folder first.2. If there's a browser problem, such as a stuck page, try a different browser (such as Firefox, Safari, or Chrome)3. If the Gumroad order page didn't get complete, be sure to fill out the payment total.4. If none of these work, please contact the support people at the place you bought it (support@gumroad.com) or (support@sellfy.com). They can get you the file through other channels.5. And if nothing works and for whatever reason you want your money back, just email me at gurneyjourney@gmail.com, and I can go through the refund process.

Hey James- I had a question about the Liquor store painting...You mentioned working on he sky first and that got me thinking about a recent interview I heard with Marc Delassio (probably misspelled) where he said [something to the effect of] "always start with the sky and key toward the sky" referring to a starting point for the value. My question: is that a common rule or one you consider? Is there a particular rule you subscribe to for a kick off point for value or do you just have a developed eye? I apologize for redundancy if this is something you've covered and I missed it. Thanks!

Another great instructional video, James! I've watched it twice already. It's amazing how your skill in depicting light make a mundane scene (or piece of a scene) look so very interesting. It is a valuable lesson in how to envision things more like an artist and less like a documenter. I've pulled all my tubes of gouache out and am determined to play with them some more.

Hi James. I'm still approaching watercolors and re-watching Watercolor in the wild, but I already have my Gouache in the wild video as well. It's quite hard to get some decent materials where I live and it's taken me some time to build a decent sketching set. Still, I was wondering if there is or could be a post in your blog where you reunite all the materials for plen-air sketching in gouache like the one you made for Watercolor http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com.ar/2014/08/watercolor-in-wild-materials.html That post is so useful! Great reference for self taught painters like myself. Also, there's no way to get Casein in here so I was wondering if Acrylic paint could work as primer before painting in gouache. Thank you.

Carlos, good idea to do a materials post for gouache or generally for oil. I did do a post about the formulations of various brands of gouache: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2015/06/gouache-ingredients-info-from.html

I know it's hard to find casein outside of the USA. You can use acrylic-gouache (more matte) or regular acrylic (many different formulations) or even tinted gesso for an underpainting beneath gouache. Just not oil.

James, you are an excellent narrator and showman. I especially enjoyed your presentation at portrait society in dc a few years ago. I recently purchased gouache in the wild, I'm interested in gouache for its immediacy over oil paint. as primarily an oil painter, I was wondering if you might speak to any handling hazards of gouache like there are in oil paint, i.e. painting zinc over ivory black = cracking etc. My understanding of gouache is that since it dries quickly, layers can be wrought without much consequence, dark over light, light over dark, without too much concern of pigment to binder ratios etc. I find that sometimes I want to re activate a previous area and up the transparency for the sake of "erasing" to slightly alter drawing. Is this a bad practice? I've also read that gouache can crack if applied too thickly, so are many layers something to avoid? I try for immediacy and directness of course, but sometimes things get away from me. Thanks for doing what you do!

Brock Alius, As with any art supplies, I would suggest doing experiments with materials and techniques you want to try. I haven't had trouble with gouache cracking, but then I don't build up impastos super high. Stiff watercolor paper is usually fine, but if you want to go really thick, you'd be wise to use illustration board or panel. Reactivating is a normal practice. Worth experimenting with.